156 Some Implications of the Incarnation [CH. 



ceding events of working life, generally the events of 

 the previous evening; its real meaning lies deep in the 

 accumulation of material in the unconscious. Frag- 

 ments of unimportant happenings are irresponsibly 

 selected, though occasionally somatic stimuli provide 

 the immediate cause, and perhaps shape the dream. 

 Dreams appear most often motiveless and disconnected 

 when such fragments as can be remembered are con- 

 sidered by the waking mind, and they rapidly fade from 

 memory. This disconnectedness and impermanence is 

 due to more than one cause. Partly, dream-episodes, 

 except the simple dreams of wish-fulfilment, are really 

 without sequence, because the apparent content of the 

 dream is of little importance: has nothing to do with 

 the real meaning. Partly, as soon as the dreamer wakes 

 the critical moments of the dream are repressed from 

 consciousness by the censor. In sleep, the censor dozes, 

 and passes matter for publication whose disguise is too 

 transparent for this to be allowed when the whole mind 

 is fully awake. Therefore the censor does the next best 

 thing; he calls the dream in from circulation and wields 

 his blue pencil freely. What finally emerges is as futile 

 as were the articles of military correspondents in the 

 early stages of the war. 



The true content of the dream lies deeper. It is 

 veiled in ambiguous symbols. Real meanings are often 

 expressed by their contraries. Fear, for instance, is a 

 wish inverted. All this is conditioned by the necessity 

 of escaping the eagle eye of the censor. 



Thus, the interpretation of dreams is a matter for the 

 expert alone. Only those who have the requisite know- 

 ledge of psychology and physiology can attempt it. 



Once more it may be asked how one can possibly tell 

 what is the true interpretation, if sometimes the inter- 

 pretation is straightforward, sometimes by contraries, 

 and if everything of importance is masked by some 



